Top Tips to Start Your Own Blog Successfully

Blogging! Well, it seems this is the buzzword these days. Especially in the field of digital marketing, which itself is booming right now. And besides using it for the business marketing purpose, a lot of people are doing it out of sheer passion and interest, or even for some extra income. But is it really that easy to start a blog and get it running? Well, the truth is, it isn’t. You need to follow a few specific steps to get started on the journey of blogging. And even after you do that, there needs to be proper follow ups to ensure that your blog performs well and attracts readers on a regular basis.

Choose a Correct Niche

Blog Writing Tips

Well, no matter when and where you are writing, this has to be the first step when planning your blog. And you need to do this prudently enough as well. But how can you choose the topic for your blog? What is a ‘correct’ niche? Is there some specific subject, which you love? May be something in which you have a deep knowledge? These can really be a great way to find the topic for your blog. You need to find the right niche or topic, which usually has a high traffic. If you are writing on some topic, which no one searches for on the internet, well, it’s of no use at all.

Select the Name Prudently

The Bard might have said: “What’s in a name”, but it is better you don’t pay any heed to it while selecting the name of your blog. This is one of the most important things that you need to attend. The selection of the blog’s name needs to be prudent. You have to ensure that the name is attractive enough for the viewers. Besides, they should also be able to remember the name with ease.

Read Major Blogs in the Same Niche

Do you spend enough time reading blogs written by others? Especially the most popular ones in your niche? Well, if you don’t, start it immediately. Without reading them, it is difficult for you to have a clear idea about the topics, the market and the upcoming trends there. So, you need to select a few major blogs about the market that you are targeting and keep a tab on them. You should follow their updates on a regular basis. This is likely to give you an insight of the market and the things happening there.

Target the Most Searched for Keywords

You need to target the best keywords as well. Make full use of the different types of keyword suggestion tools, such as Google Adwords, SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool, and so on. But what’s the use of writing on keywords, which are not searched by anybody at all? So, make sure you choose those keywords, which are extremely popular in Google search. And when choosing them, keep in mind both long-tail and short-tail keywords. For example, if you are planning to write on a trip to an island in Malaysia, you can add both – ‘island trip’ or ‘island trip in Malaysia’. While the former is a short-tail keyword, the latter is its long-tail counterpart.

Try to be Different, Unique

Be Different

What is the niche you have chosen? Is it unique? Probably not. And you must be knowing that as well. There are zillions of blogs on the web and many of them might already be dealing with the topics that you are writing on. So, why should people be reading your blog? That’s why you need to be different. You have to offer them a new and unique perspective even on the age-old topics. This is surely going to be difficult. However, this can be the magic touch that your blog needs. Something, which will attract maximum traffic within the shortest possible time. So, try to be unique and different.

Use the Most Attractive Images

Images can do wonders to your blog. Yes, you read it right! Even if your blog has nothing to do with photography, you have to include excellent photos in it. Photographs, if they are good enough, are surely the most attractive component of a blog page. A blog with an enchanting photograph experiences much more share than one without an image or with a drab one. So, it is a great idea to include a relevant image in your blog, which will make it more attractive for the viewers. They will share it more than ever before. This, in turn, will help your blog to gain more popularity among the readers, which is expected to reflect through the positive impact on the balance sheet as well.

Maintain Regularity in Posting

How frequently are you going to post in your blog? There might be a number of people who may follow your blog on a regular basis. So, you need to provide them with new insights with every blog post. You can do it once or twice a week. If possible, you can also create a number of blogs on a daily basis. Whatever you decide, always stick to it. Try to be a frequent blogger and do not fail to post on the scheduled day. This is surely going to create a sense of anticipation among the regular readers for your blog post.

Start Building Email Marketing List from Day One

When you have posted in your blog, the most important thing you will look for is readers. You will try to reach out to as many readers as possible with your blog. And one of the best ways to do that is through email marketing. Create a specific email referring to the blog. Make sure that you can send as many emails to your target audience as possible. And for that, you will need an extensive list of email addresses. Try to start building your email marketing list from day one. It will turn out to be one of the most important steps for marketing your blog.

These few steps can come in extremely handy and help you establish a blog with great success within a short time.

[Image courtesy:

http://www.nikkiwoodsmedia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/The-12-Dos-and-Donts-of-Writing-a-Blog-Post.jpg

http://www.nimbleams.com/media/1825/being_different_384x256.jpg  ]

Easy Ways to Increase Your Social Media Fan Following

These days, it is essential for any business to have a significant online present. The moment anyone comes to know about your business, the first thing they will ask for is your website address. And beyond that, it is necessary to use social media in the best possible manner. In recent times, social media can be one of the most important platforms that can help you expand your business. For this, you have to reach out to maximum people. And the only way you can do that is by increasing the number of fans on your different social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and so on. Only then you can expect your posts and shares on these social media platforms to reach maximum number of people.

Ask Questions to Know the Answers

No matter how big your company is, the questions that you need to ask while performing social media marketing is just the same as anyone else:

* Who are your target customers and where can you find them?
* What are they looking for?
* How do you need to communicate with them?

The answers to these questions are the solutions to maximizing your social media fan following. Here’s a few tricks that you can try.

Content Remains the King!

Content is the King! No matter how many times you have heard this phrase, it holds true even to this day. Especially in the field of marketing. To help your social media profile perform well, add high quality content in it. Always remember that the awesome content makes it easier for you to connect with your target audience. Besides, it gives you something to share on the social media platforms that can be of interest to people.

You can create blogs or websites with high-quality content and share different topics from there on your social media page. Add interesting images to your blog and add contents on a regular basis. It will help you create an online persona and enhance the chances of getting more number of fans and followers.

Interaction. Interaction. And Interaction!

Want to increase your fan base on social media? Interaction needs to be your key. It is easier to convince people to like your fan page on a social media platform if they know you. For this, you need to build a strong relationship with them. The best way to do this is by interacting on the social media platforms. Reply to the queries they make on your posts. Besides, engage in regular conversations with people who show even a minimum interest in your products and services. Try to win over them to make them your fans on the social media platforms. No matter what happens, being social on social media is likely to play a key role in helping you engage people on social media and expand your fan base.

Originality Rules the Roost

When you are planning to build a fan base online, originality remains the key. Be it for content or for visuals, originality is something that defines a creation best. Even for videos and audios, visitors to your website or social media page prefer original one’s to the concept of curating content available online.
Here’s a look at the figures:

Add Social Sharing Plug-ins on the Page

Share your content and the news about your business on social media. The number and the popularity of different social media platforms are increasing at a fast pace with every passing day. Millions of users are joining these regularly. Hence, spreading the news about your business among these social media users can be a great step forward towards expanding your fan base. But for this, you need to make sure that the blog or the web page that you are sharing with the readers should be easily shareable. Adding social sharing plug-in on the pages can be a good way to ensure that the website will become readable to the social media users. Once they like it, they are also expected to become a fan of your organization or the products and services that you offer.

Use Videos in an SEO-friendly Manner on Social Platforms

Never ever think that the video sharing platforms will not help your website rank well. The videos can very well rank high in search engine results. However, for that, it is necessary to make the videos SEO friendly. In most cases, enough care is not taken care about this. It is essential to add some copy to the video, be it in the title or in the description. It can also be made keyword rich to ensure that it is ranks high in search engine results. Make sure that you include some of the most important videos on your web pages as well as one the social media page. If they are good enough, they can surely attract a good amount of fan following.

When you are taking about marketing, audience building is not an option, but imperative for your survival in the process. And thanks to the numerous members that the social media platforms have, they are just the perfect platform to do this on a large scale. Yet, you don’t need to spend a lot of time for this as well. All you need to do is make full use of the social media websites. You will have to focus on creating an extensive fan base on these platforms, and soon you can see your business flourish, almost in no time at all.

[Image courtesy: http://www.thesmartmkter.info/2014/05/content-is-king-101-ways-to-improve.html ]

Love in the Time of Social Media

It is inevitable: for people to fall in love. It has happened over the ages and will continue. What changes is the way of expression. From the earliest of times, people have expressed their love through letters. Then came the age of technology. Telephones and mobile phones burst into the scene. Along with phone calls came the short messages. These were the primary media through which people started professing their love for their partners. And now is the age of social media. Does it really have any impact on the world of the lovers? Has it been able to become the Cupid’s bow for the lovers these days?

Online Relationships Last Longer

Even in this present age, when marriages are falling apart every day, relationships that blossomed online are expected to last longer, says a report from The Telegraph, UK. The world of social media is taking this concept a bit further. It has transformed today’s dating scene and made it easier for people to find their partners.

Even the data speaks for it. According to Social Media Week:

• 10% of the Americans have tried online dating
• One third of all the married Americans met online

Towards a World of Only Social Media Relationships

Let’s look a bit further into the future. A few years from now, there might not be any new lover who would be able to remain oblivious of social media. In fact, this virtual world is likely to have a deep impact on the way love blossoms and transforms into a long lasting partnership. No matter where you are sitting, you can just log on to some of the popular social media websites and check out a guy or a girl’s profile. Thus, you can know his or her choices, likes, and dislikes. This gives you the chance to decide whether you want to meet that person or not.

Finding the Perfect Date

The concept of dating website is not new. But when you want to join a dating website, a new question pops up: why limit yourself to just one site with only a few members? It is true that there is no reason any more to be confined to the sites that have minimum members, especially when you can join one having billions. That’s where social media becomes relevant.The social media websites have numerous members with whom you can connect with ease.And on these platforms, you can find numerous groups for dating as well. 

 There are hundreds of such groups on different social media websites. You can find several likeminded people here and get a much larger option to choose from. As all these groups are meant for dating, you can choose the person you want to go out on a date with.

Love Prevails across Platforms

Be it Facebook, Instagram or any other social media platform, they have always been the perfect platform for love to blossom. There are numerous instances of people getting introduced to one another over the internet and then falling for each other. And of course, there’s the story of that girl who accepted an Instagram marriage proposal. So, with every such incident, social media has grown more and more popular among the young and aged alike to express the love for their partners.

Perfect for Long Relationships
 

Worried about the distance? There’s no reason to be tensed with social media around. It has been noticed that for relationships to thrive across distances, social media is one of the best tools. But for a new relationship, it is better to avoid social media, says online dating guru Julie Spira. According to her, social media ruins the mystery that is attached to a relationship in its first few days.

However, as time passes and the relationship progresses, social media plays an important to role to keep the fire burning.

Social Media Even Beyond the Courtship

Even moving on after the months or years of courtship, it is easy to see how the impact of social media lingers. From the day the wedding is arranged to the moment of marriage, you will find several posts about it on the social media profiles of the love bugs. Besides, it is quite obvious that if you want any picture of the main and the associated events, all you need to do is visit the profile of the lovers. You will find numerous images of the bride and the groom at the event. All these are usually posted on social media by the lovers as well as their friends and families.

In this age of social media, almost nothing remain out of its radar. Not even the myriad human emotions. And love is a major one among them. Although it has remained over the years, yet the advent of social media has been able to give it a completely new dimension. It's really a great feeling to be able to change the relationship status on social media from single to committed. And with every passing day, more and more people are expected to use social media for relationships.

[Image courtesy
http://www.serenityinthestorm.com/
http://thelarrylowe.com/ ]

Top Social Media Marketing Strategies for Your Startup

Looking to take your startup a step forward? Want to reach out to more people and spread the word about your new business and its offerings? Look back a few decades and you will find that this task was, no doubt, extremely difficult for any startup. The times, however, have changed. With the arrival of social media, it has become much easier to reach out to people across the globe to spread the word about your business. However, being a startup, you need to use social media prudently. The social media strategies of your startup need to be completely different from those of an established brand.

Select the Right Platform Prudently

Want to plan the social media marketing for your startup? You have all the social media platforms at your disposal that any established brand can use. It is always difficult to decide, which social media websites to use. There are quite a few of them and many of these, such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and others are quite popular. In fact, the trick lies in selecting the right social media platforms for your startup. No matter which one you are using, try to get the most out of it. And to do this, it is important to coordinate the activities on all the social media sites. Keeping the activities as standalone on some of these sites will hardly be of any help.

Optimize the Website and Blog for Social Media

Don’t have any website or blog of your business yet? You need to develop one immediately. These days, you cannot spend even a day without a website for your business and yet think of marketing it among a large number of people. A blog is equally important for the prospects of your business. Make sure these are properly optimized for social media. The icons for different social media websites should be properly displayed in the pages of the blog. This is expected to increase the number of shares of these pages across social media and thus, extend the reach of your business.

Participate in Conversations and Answer Queries

When your business is new, you should take extra steps to let people know about it and answer their queries. Social media is the best platform to do this. Participate in different conversations about your business. Remaining active on social media is probably the best thing you can do. Reply to all the queries and comments, which are made on your posts on these platforms. However, it is important to take a balanced approach to your activities on social media and focus on the minute details. It can come in handy in the long run to help your business perform better. However, being a startup, you need to keep an eye on whatever you are saying. It is important to ensure that none of your comments have any negative impact on your business.

Make Full Use of Groups and Communities

Social media platforms usually have numerous groups and communities. In each of them, different types of topics are discussed. When you are planning to use social media for your startup, try to make full use of these groups. Join a relevant group with large number of members. Post about your business on these groups and communities to ensure that all the members can see your posts and come to know about your business. Engage in these communities to start a discussion about your business. You can also create a page of your business on social media and post information about your business there. This will ensure that people who are connected to your social media profile on that specific platform will be informed about your business.

Go for Visually Engaging Updates

Gone are the days of text-based updates on social media. Always remember the old adage: a picture speaks a thousand world. Use the latest social media platforms, such as Pinterest and others, which allows you to share pictures. They surely offer the shortest way to drive your idea home. Use bright and colorful images to attract the attention of the viewers. You can even create small videos and spread the word about your business, which is the in-thing now. No matter what you do, it is important to be visually engaging to fetch results. They can even go viral on social media, thus making your business familiar among a large number of people. This is likely to help increase the shares of your posts on these social media websites, thus helping you reach out to more number of people.

Social media appears to be the perfect marketing tool for today. It offers the opportunity to reach out to millions at one go. Hence, it can be used to spread the awareness about your startup and reach out to the maximum number of people within the shortest possible time.

[Image Courtesy:
http://ridiculouslyefficient.com/

http://www.thebrainchildgroup.com/blog/2013/07/startup-social-media-marketing/]

A Few Stories that You can Use for Marketing on Social Media

These days, social media is almost everywhere. No matter what you do, you need to be present on the social media platforms. And if you own a business, not having a social media presence can be the biggest blunder you can make. It is one of the most outstanding ways through which you can remain connected with your audiences. However, just remaining connected with them and communicating nothing is no good. You need to keep them engaged and ensure that they are enjoying your presence. The best way to do this is by telling stories. And in social media, you can tell a lot of stories to keep your target audience interested.

You Know Your Own Story Best

What is the first story you should tell the people with whom you are connecting on social media? What is the story that you know the best? It has to be your own story. And believe it or not, people on social media who are connected with you are eager to know about it. This is why using this story on social media can be a real good marketing ploy. They want to know several things about you:

• Who you are?
• What are your hobbies and interests?
• What you do off work?

They also want to know what you are passionate about, your values and so on. Share with them your future plans through the social media pages. Your story is likely to make them interested and keep them glued to your social media profile for a long time.

Tell about Your Business and Company

The page you should set up in a social media platform is that of your company. Hence, while telling the stories, never miss out on your company’s stories. There are so many things to tell! And your stakeholders are always eager to know about the company. Start with the history and then move on with time. Share your present experiences and future plans. These are likely to help you keep the audience interested. Some of the most common questions that pop up about your business include:

• Why you had incorporated the company?
• Who had inspired you?
• How do you continue performing well day in and day out?
• Have you ever failed? If yes, what were the reasons?
• What have you accomplished over the years?

You can check out a few examples on different social media websites. Follow major brands and check out how they manage their social media platforms. You can try to follow their footsteps and this is likely to come in handy in the long run.

Customers are Important as Well

Customers should form the core of the business universe of a company. Only then you can expect outstanding results in the long run. But how can you let the customers know that you care about them? Share their stories on your social media page. You can point out the difference that the customer experienced before and after using the products and services offered by you. Include stories about different fans that your business have. How did your business help them? It will be really great if you can have some positive testimonials from the clients. You can display them on the social media profile to make it more interesting.

Share Your Vision for the Business

What are your vision about your business? Where do you want to reach after about 10 years? You need to understand what are the strengths and the weaknesses that your business exhibits. Decide the changes that you would like to make in your business. Keep thinking about the things of the business, which you would like to improve. Share the thought with the fans and stakeholders. Take their advice as well and check out whether it really helps.

Communicate with the fans and let them know how your business moves in line with their values. Share with them why you feel your business is special and unique, completely different from most of your competitors.

What Stories Inspire You Most?

Apart from telling your own story or those of your stakeholders, you can also share something else. If you know a few stories, which you feel are really inspiring and will have the same effect on the others as well, post them on your business page. They are surely going to be shared by most of the people who read them.

Stories are always the best way to communicate with your audience. They help to add a touch of interest in the otherwise mundane things. This is what makes them more popular than almost everything else. Including these stories on your social media platform can help to remain connected with your audience and hence, the business is expected to perform better than ever before.

[Image Courtesy:

http://blog.marketamerica.com/blog/social-media-monday-top-stories-from-around-the-web
http://mashable.com/2010/10/01/facebook-photos-street-view-social-network/ ]

DESIGNING A STARTUP WEBSITE: TOP 5 MISTAKES YOU SHOULD NOT COMMIT

These days, when you tell anyone that you own a business, what is the first thing they ask? It is surely this: “What is the website address of your business?” Well, the fact is: in recent times, if you have a business, you need to have a website. But it is not an easy task to set up the website while you are busy establishing your business. There are a few steps that need to be followed while designing the website of a start up business. You need to identify your target audience and cater to their needs. Besides, when you are planning to build a new website for a startup, it will be quite different from what you would have needed if you had wanted to redesign an already successful website. Want to fail miserably with your startup's website? Here are a few mistakes that you can commit.

Going for a Highly Complicated Website

Want to drive away visitors from your website? A complicated site can be of great help to you then. Well, to be frank, you will always want people to know about your business and spend some time surfing your website. For this, you need to have a simple website. The navigation needs to be planned properly. You should always try to ensure that people can move from one part of the website to another without any hassle. You can keep a stationary navigation tool bar, which is in vogue these days. It can add to the site’s simplicity and yet, make it easy for the visitors to use.

Not Concentrating Enough on Logo Creation

Include a logo for your company. While selecting it, look for multiple options. Choose a company color and include it in the logo. Make your logo unique. Think of something, which will help you stand out in the crowd. Ensure that it has a great brand recall value. Use the logo to build up the brand value of your business. It is the major component, which will build up the identification of your business. In short, the logo is going to be the ‘face’ of your business. It will also help to make your business appear unique in a crowd. Hence, you should focus properly on building the logo. Design it yourself if you have relevant experience, or else go for a professional service provider.

Creating a Non-responsive Version

Planning to create a website that has only a PC-compatible version? If you are eager to see your business website fail miserably, then go ahead! These days, you will find almost everyone roaming around with an internet-friendly mobile device in their hands. And when you are creating a website, most of them will use that device to view it. If you have only a PC-compatible version, the site will appear distorted. This will also come in handy to increase conversion and retention rate of your website.

Designing the Whole Thing Yourself

Have you ever been involved in any designing task? Do you have any experience of working on the designs of a website? If not, it is better not to take up the task yourself. Always go for a professional help for this purpose. You can appoint a design cofounder. Find someone who is as passionate about designing as you are about the business. Remember, many of the websites that became popular with time, such as Square, Pinterest and others started with design cofounders. However, even if you have a design cofounder, you need to keep an eye on how the appearance of the website is turning out to be.

Not Collaborating Even When You are Inexperienced

It is possible that you might not want to employ any design co-founder. The only option you will have then is to outsource the work. Appoint an individual designing freelancer or an agency for the purpose. You can find a large number of designers who are capable of creating innovative designs. You can collaborate with any of these freelancers to give a great look to your website. Always remember, collaboration is the key to achieve success.

While designing the website for your startup, keep a simple target in mind: do not end up being just another startup. Do not take ages on planning and end up never creating a website. Rather, it is better to jump into the project and find a direction while on the job. Make a visually attractive website with easy navigation to ensure that the visitors stay for a long time once they land there.

[Image Courtesy

http://www.theventureedge.com/2011/08/25/common-mistakes-startup-design/
http://www.alleywatch.com/ ]